Ibstock shares jumped on Wednesday as investors welcomed rising first-half sales and looked forward to a future recovery in brick demand.
Ibstock, one of Britain’s leading building products manufacturers, has reported a 9% increase in revenue to £193 million for the six months ended 30 June 2025, driven by strong volume growth as the construction market continues its recovery.
However, the company’s profitability came under pressure during the period, with adjusted EBITDA falling 6% to £36 million as margins were squeezed by higher costs associated with reactivating network capacity to meet recovering demand.
Nonetheless, Ibstock shares were over 5% higher in early trade on Wednesday as investors looked forward to further recovery.
Ibstock expects further volume growth in the second half of the year and believes it is well-positioned to capitalise on the market recovery, supported by recent investments in network capacity and strategic investments in its Atlas and Nostell plants.
The company said it was maintaining a “clear focus on margin management and execution” as it seeks to rebuild profitability whilst meeting growing demand in the recovering construction market.
Ibstock maintained previously issued EBITDA guidance of £77 million to £82 million.
“Ibstock continues to build momentum as its sales volumes ramped up as expected over the first half, landing materially ahead of the prior year,” said Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Further volume growth is pencilled in for the second half as new property construction activity continues to build. These expectations are buoyed by market forecasts of further interest rate cuts through the rest of 2025 and beyond, which should improve mortgage affordability and drive further uplifts in demand for Ibstock’s products.
“To prepare for this potential uplift, Ibstock is starting to bring more capacity online and now has the largest brick-making capacity in the UK. However, due to the high fixed costs associated with firing up the brick-making kilns, margins have come under pressure. Until demand ramps up further, operations won’t be as efficient as investors would like, and profitability will remain hamstrung. In the meantime, cash flows and investor returns will likely remain in the back seat.”